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Voices From The Readers

We believe the residents of our community should be aware of a significant violation in our community.

The Montego Bay community started more than 40 years ago and has always had a set of restriction covenants to which property owners agree upon purchase. Any revisions must have more than a 50% agreement of all property owners. These restrictions protect us all. They are in the process of being revised with notice going to all in March 2013 for a vote. The proposed changes are only posted on the community web site which may be available to all, but in actuality may only be available in the homes of half of the owners.

These restrictions supersede the building codes of the Town of Ocean City. The town is well aware of these restrictions and has always followed the Montego Bay rules when granting a permit for construction. In late November, the town granted a permit for the construction of a 25-foot wide home, knowing Montego Bay has restricted home widths to 24 feet on our 40-fot by 90-foot lots. The permit for construction is supposed to also be approved by a designated member of the Montego Bay Board of Directors before construction can begin.

New construction of a 25-foot wide home started in late November, was noticed by a nearby resident, who questioned both the town and the Montego Bay office. Upon finding out that the town had approved this, an email was sent to both the town and the board asking under what authority had this construction, which is in violation of our restrictions, been approved. The change to a 25-foot home is part of the new proposals, which, if passed by the community, will not take effect until next spring.

With a lot of scurrying, a cease and desist order was placed on the construction. Apparently, both the builder and the town had been told by a member of the Board that it was okay to proceed with a 25-foot wide house. And, in fact, the Board approved the construction on Dec. 8 after the foundation had been set.

The message to owners is that a significant violation has occurred. It is irrelevant that the change in size of a home is in the proposed restrictions; what if the community does not approve the many proposed changes? Why was the town told that it was okay to proceed now? Why did the builder, who also knows the restrictions well, put forth a plan for the 25-foot house now? What will the Board do with construction approvals between now and the spring?

The good that can come of this is that all property owners can see the impact of a wider house at 109 Sea Lane before they vote on the proposed restriction changes.

Andrea Albrecht
Joan Kutcher
Ocean City

Thanks For Support
Editor:

The Ladies of the Berlin Lioness Club would like to thank those who have supported us in the past year and in particular special thanks to the merchants and our friends and family who purchased Christmas wreaths and garland for the holiday season.

The Berlin Lioness Club raises funds to help support other non-profits in our community and the funds raised from this sale will go to assist many of our community’s worthwhile causes.

We wish the residents of Berlin, Ocean City and all of the surrounding towns the happiest of holiday seasons.

Mary Sauter (The writer is the president of the Berlin Lioness Club.)

Response To Criticism
Editors:
If I may, I would like to respond to Diane Lojewski comments regarding my thoughts on the election.

I wasn’t being disrespectful when I wrote the letter. It was a question of logic. Assuming, of course, that everyone was aware of the difficult debt situation our nation and the rest of the world is presently facing the way the election, both locally and nationally turned out, one has to question: How could this happen? Anyone who is aware and concerned about the debt, I would think, they would vote against any candidate who has stated they believe that taxing and spending are good and would have a positive effect on the economy. Well, they voted in locally all of the tax-and-spend candidates and nationally they voted back into office the guy who has increased the debt more in his first four years then all previous administrations combined.

For you to think that the very Congress who caused this debt increase will solve the problem, when the president himself isn’t willing to negotiate but instead is demanding a tax increase, another stimulus package and the right to bypass the Congress regarding the debt ceiling, well it will never happen.

Now as far as the percentages of tax rates are concerned, the government, as wasteful as they are, should never have been allowed to tax the wages we receive for our labor. The best way to correct this spending problem is to repeal the 16th amendment which was ratified February 3, 1913. Taxing will not solve the spending problem in Washington. In reality they now tax everything we use or buy and the money they receive from these taxes, if they were responsible people, should be enough to run the government.

Now for the sensitive issue on the Catholic vote and your stand on divorce, contraception and abortion lets first look at what the government tried to do. Any government that would try to force upon a religion a requirement to provide a service that goes against the particular religious beliefs is a government that’s going against our Constitution and our Bill of Right and no one whose capable of understanding what the government tried to do should have voted against them. There should be no doubt about that choice if they understood the situation and were not thinking about what the government might give them.

As for your stand on abortion, I don’t know what religion you profess to believe in but if it’s a Christian religion I suggest you go to the Bible and read Deuteronomy 5, The Ten Commandments. If you can find in the commandments the right for any women to abort a child I’ll accept your right of choice. But if you are a Christian and believe in Jesus and you kill a baby, regardless of what caused the pregnancy or how far along you are in the pregnancy, I wouldn’t want to be in your place on the day of judgment. Just a thought.

Paul St. Andre
Ocean City

Fiscal Cliff And You
Editor:
Are you concerned about the economic crisis that our country is facing now?

Are you concerned about the progress, or lack of it, being made by our President and Congress to avoid crisis?

The situation is not going to be resolved by discussion over the backyard fence. The President and Congress needs to know our thoughts. Please call the Washington, D.C. switchboard (1-202-224-3121) and leave a message for your Senators and Representatives asking them to stop pointing fingers and enter into discussions with an attitude of true compromise. Also call the Presidential hotline (1-202-456-1414) to leave the same message.

Congress should not recess until the task is resolved. Be responsible- call them.
John and Ann McDermott
Ocean City

Christmas Dinner Set
Editor:
The Noel Community is making final preparations for the 15th annual dinner on Christmas Day.

Many churches, businesses, civic groups, and individuals have made donations and will volunteer for the dinner. We appreciate the generosity of Ocean City, Ocean Pines, Berlin, Fenwick, Bishopville, Selbyville and the surrounding neighborhoods. Please stop by to experience the joy on Christmas Day at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea on 3rd Street in south Ocean City and enjoy a dinner, dessert, or fellowship you will remember for a life time. If you have any questions or would like a meal delivered on Christmas Day, please call 410-289-3453. If you wish to make a donation, please mail checks payable to the Noel Community to PO Box 1207 in Ocean City, Md. 21843. With your support, we are able to assist individuals and families in meaningful ways. We cannot do everything, but together we can do something. The Noel Community

2 comments on “Voices From The Readers”

Do you want to know what’s going to happen in the wake of the Newtown tragedy? Nothing. Yeah we may nibble at the very edges of an issue or two but in reality, nothing will be done to prevent this from happening again (and it will). We are a violent people. And I don’t mean “them” but you and I, all of us collectively adore and celebrate violence. We’re obsessed with death. Our mothers and grandmo
thers watch reruns of Murder She Wrote and Touched by an Angel. Our fathers watch NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds, etc… Our films are all about killing. If there is a killer in the town, send in John Wayne or Dirty Harry to kill the killer – any excuse possible to morally celebrate murder. George Lucus mows down “humanoid” clones, so it’s OK. Blowing away “zombies” emotionally justifies death. I remember when I was a kid, Brooke Shields looses her virginity in The Blue Lagoon and it received an X rating (the first few submissions) but watching a live human being getting run over by a tank gets a PG rating? (Lion of the Desert) Our children are raised on killing. We babysit them with simulators of death in the form of “games”, practicing for the day they get to own a real gun of their own.

Face it folks, we Americans are all a violent people. Look how we celebrate war… how we worship the technology of death, from aircraft carriers to M16s and everything in between… fighter jets, drones, tanks, missiles, stealth technologies, night vision, laser guided bombs… the list goes on and on (and you know WAY too many details about all of it). We solve conflict by threatening or inflicting death, plain and simple. Someone kills? We kill thousands of that country’s people. It doesn’t matter who (countless millions of civilian deaths in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc…) We love killing but somehow can’t look at the result of it – to publish the videos and photos of what was done in our names. Hell we can’t even look at our own soldiers’ coffins!

Roughly 510.000 American soldiers gave their lives fighting in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Since Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were gunned down in 1968, over 1,000,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds. And what have we done in the last 40+ years? Have we provided free mental health care to our population who are on the verge of becoming criminally insane? (We all know there are warning signs and no one just wakes up out of the blue and kills 20 six and seven year olds.) Have we banned military weapons designed for hunting people? Do we regulate guns like we do cars with licenses, proficiency tests and registrations? Have we curbed violence in the media and video games? Have we balanced our love of war with what it’s like to be a civilian on the receiving end of it? Hell no! We’ve made everything worse in the last 40 years. And we have the audacity to be “shocked” and “mortified” the Newtown tragedy could happen in a wealthy, sleepy little suburb? Wake up folks.

We all know the names of the killers, from James Earl Ray to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, to our latest “anti-hero” Adam Lanza. Even after I just read the names of the real heroes (only yesterday), the teachers and staff who saved so many innocent children at the cost of their own lives, I can’t recall their names. We are all part of this. It’s all too easy to point to the mental health system or Hollywood or gun control… the list goes on and on. But the truth is we Americans are the bit bulls of the human race and yet when we look in the mirror all we see are fluffy, friendly yellow labs and golden retrievers.

If you agree with what I’ve written, if you see some of yourself in it, like I do, feel free to spread the word that we (collectively) are the problem. If we as individuals aren’t willing to take a tiny bit of personal responsibility for contributing to the culture of violence in America, then “we” as a nation aren’t going to be able to make the changes necessary to turn this thing around.